The purpose of this RFP is for Ramsey/Washington Recycling & Energy (R&E) to procure a professional customer support contact center (center) to field live contacts from community members in Ramsey and Washington counties so they can successfully recycle their food scraps with the Food Scraps Pickup Program (FSPP). The center shall provide tier 1 support by handling questions and concerns including simple and frequently asked questions relating to recycling food scraps, food scrap drop-off sites, food scrap bags and containers, and program participation. It also includes assisting callers with basic online operations like program registration, food scrap bag ordering and payment, and identifying order and delivery issues. Agents will refer more complex questions or issues to tier 2 support, which is provided by R&E. Tier 2 support includes subject matter experts and assistance in resolving payment issues, creating replacement orders, and resolving complaints. The center will maintain confidentiality around customer contact information, addresses, order history and credit card information. The center will measure agent performance, maintain call data, make call recordings accessible, and provide R&E timely reports on specified metrics.
Background: The R&E Board is a public joint powers board of Ramsey and Washington counties, located in the eastern Twin Cities Metropolitan Area. R&E administers solid waste resource recovery activities and programs to reduce land disposal of waste in the East Metro, including the Food Scraps Pickup Program (FSPP) which began in 2023. The FSPP provides free, compostable food scrap bags for eligible households that register and order bags online; collected bags are separated from trash and delivered to industrial compost sites and, by 2028, to an anaerobic digester to produce energy and soil amendments. There are approximately 337,776 households in Ramsey and Washington counties. R&E's goal is that approximately 40% of households will participate in the FSPP within five years of program launch. The program serves residents across diverse demographics and languages.
Scope and expectations: R&E seeks a contact center to provide tier 1 customer support tailored to the FSPP, including use of the FSPP website and FAQs, assistance with registration and ecommerce ordering, order and delivery issue identification, referrals to tier 2 support, post-call IVR surveys, and multilingual support. Vendor requirements include 24/7/365 telephone support, language support for English, Spanish, Hmong, Somali, Oromo, and Karen (and additional languages as needed), use of an inbound contact ticketing system, call recording, knowledge base management, escalation to tier 2, reporting and dashboards, and adherence to defined service level objectives (abandoned calls under 6%; answer within 90 seconds 85% of the time; average wait time ≤ 60 seconds; ≥90% first call resolution; customer satisfaction score ≥4/5 for ≥85% of responses). Vendors must meet minimum qualifications including at least three years of contact center experience, a stable management team, minimum staff size and client counts, minimum annual revenue, cyber security insurance, and no security breaches in the past three years. Vendors must provide onboarding, ongoing agent training, data security and continuity plans, and compliance with the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act. Reporting requirements include daily, weekly, and monthly performance reports and continuous electronic access to individual data. The RFP includes required proposal contents (cover letter, qualifications and experience, fee schedule, references, signed Attachment A terms and conditions, and conflict of interest statement) and specifies evaluation criteria, submission format, and contractual terms and insurance requirements.
